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DEDICATORY EXERCISES 



AT THE 



New Registry of Deeds and 
Probate Building, 

CAMBRIDGE, MASS., 

NOVEMBER 13, 1900. 



.jjftr******* 



ill Excii^^ 9 
Arner. Ant. Soc. 

25 Jl »9° 7 



DEDICATION EXERCISES. 



The County Commissioners of Middlesex County, realizing 
that the completion of the new Registry of Deeds and Probate 
Building in Cambridge would be an event of unusual interest to 
all who practice in the Probate Court, or utilize the rooms of the 
Registry of Deeds, as well as to the general public, concluded to 
invite the Bar Association of Middlesex County to take charge 
of such ceremonies for the formal dedication of said building as 
they might consider wise and expedient. 

The Probate Court came in on Tuesday, November 13, 1900, 
Judges Mclntire and Lawton upon the bench. The business of 
the court being suspended, Samuel K. Hamilton, Esq., president 
of the Bar Association, addressed the court as follows: — 



Remarks of Samuel K. Hamilton, Esq., 

President of Middlesex Bar Association. 

Mav it please Your Honors:— 

' To-day there has been heard within these walls the official 
announcement "Court" for the first time. It is a noteworthy 
occasion The transfer of two great departments of the 
machinery of our government from the building lately occupied 
by them, and so recently erected, to the present edifice ; a trans- 
fer caused by the rapid growth of the county in wealth and 
population, and the enormous increase in the business carried 
on in these two departments. 

In this building have been assembled and arranged for con- 
venient use the records of the conveyances of real estate in the 
county since its organization to the time when it was divided 
into the Northern and South Districts, and, since that time, 
those made within the Southern District. Here, also, are the 
original wills probated and the records of the administrations of 
estates granted during the same period, and here at this moment 
that court, through whose administrative hands passes the en- 
tile property, real and personal, in the county during each gen- 
eration, is holding its first session. 

It is therefore fitting that the Bench, pausing in the dis- 
charge of its judicial functions, that the executive officers of 
these' departments, suspending their labors, and that the mem- 
bers of the Bar, leaving their offices, should assemble here and 
participate in setting apart this building to the use of the people 
of the county, and dedicate it to the safe keeping of the precious 
records of the property in the county, and to the administration 
of that branch of the law which touches all the people more 
closely than any other. Erected for the purpose of obtaining 
ample accommodation for the Registry of Deeds for the South- 
ern District and for the Court of Probate and Insolvency of the 
county, that design has been fully executed. Viewed from anv 
point of the compass, it presents a building imposing in size, 
symmetrical in proportion, and beautiful in architecture. An 
examination of the internal construction and arrangement re- 



veals ample quarters for the rapidly-accumulating records of 
both departments, commodious and thoroughly furnished 
rooms for the executive officers, and spacious, well lighted, and 
well ventilated court rooms for the transaction of judicial busi- 
ness, while the Bar has not been forgotten in the luxurious 
apartments furnished for their convenience. 

The county is to be congratulated upon the ownership of 
such a structure. The Courts, the Registers, the Bar, and the 
people are to be congratulated upon the comforts and privileges 
which it affords. 

The thanks of all of us are due to the builders of this mag- 
nificent structure ; to the architects who designed and superin- 
tended it, and to that Board whose foresight conceived it, whose 
energy made it possible, and whose constant watchfulness and 
care have made it the solid and enduring edifice it is. 

I ask Your Honors to listen to the chairman of that Board, 

Hon. Levi S. Gould. (See page 7.) 

********** 

In 1635 Cambridge was designated as one of the four towns 
in Massachusetts in which courts should be holden. and when 
the County of Middlesex was organized in 1643, it was made the 
shire town of the county, and I think it has continued a shire 
town to the present time, although there was a number of years 
between 16S8 and 1717 when the records were kept in Charles- 
town. In the latter year the controversy between the two towns 
was settled by an act of the General Court, and the records of 
the courts, including the Probate Court, have remained here 
ever since. 

Cambridge is represented on this occasion by her Mayor, 

Hon. Edgar R. Champlin. (See page 11.) 

********** 

The nineteenth century has witnessed the growth, on the 
banks of the Merrimac, of the largest municipality in this 
county. It is a city of great manufacturing industries, and its 
productions are seeking an open door into every civilized coun- 
try on the face of the globe. Nearly half a century ago it be- 
came one of the shire towns of the county, and it has its own 
magnificent court house and jail. Its citizens never lack in- 
terest in anything which pertains to the welfare of other portions 



of the county. It was expected that Lowell would be repre- 
sented on this occasion by her Mayor, but I have just received 
word that he is unable to be present on account of illness, and 
there has been no time to extend a proper invitation to any other 
person to speak for him. 

There are fiftv-four cities and towns in the county, all 
growing and prosperous, and all ambitious to promote its gen- 
eral welfare, and nearly all of them are represented here to-day. 
Time forbids my calling on the representative of each of these 
cities and towns, but I am going to call on Hon. Selwyn Z. Bow- 
man, of that young and thriving residential city of Somerville, 
and the third largest in population in the county, to speak not 
only for Somerville, but for all the rest of the county. Hor 

Selwyn Z. Bowman. (See page 13.) 

********** 

Bv the transfer of the Registry of Deeds and the Probate 
Court to this building, the accommodations for the Supreme 
Judicial Court and the Superior Court have been enlarged and 
improved, for which there has been a great necessity for years. 
It is a part of the comprehensive plan which has now been car- 
ried into execution. The clerk of these courts, who is also 
clerk of the Board of County Commissioners, has been an active 
motive power in the promotion and execution of this great work. 
I venture to ask him to speak on this occasion without notice. 

Theodore C. Hurd, clerk of all the courts. (See page 20.) 
********** 

May it please Your Honors: — 

The Bar Association of the County of Middlesex, acting as 
the mouthpiece of the County Commissioners, present to your 
court, for its use and the use of its Register and the Register of 
Deeds, this palatial structure. It is transferred unhampered by 
any Statute of Uses except of good care; unlimited by any 
Statute of Limitations except that of decay. To no better hands 
than yours could it be entrusted, worthy successors of a long 
line of distinguished jurists. Here may the priceless treasures 
it contains remain in safety, and here may that justice which 
emanates from the throne of the Most High be administered. 
Shall we have a response from both Judges of this Court? (See 
pages 22 and 26.) 



* * * * * * 



Remarks of 

Hon. Levi S. Gould 

May it please the Court: — 

A detailed statement of the legislation which culminated in 
the construction of this building is lengthy, and therefore 
omitted. 

Various acts of the Legislature, however, authorized an ex- 
penditure for land, construction, and complete equipment, ag- 
gregating $700,000. 

They also provided for a special commission, consisting of 
Hon. Charles J. Mclntire, Hon. George F. Lawton, and Hon. 
Theodore C. Hurd, to act in conjunction with the Board of 
County Commissioners in the approval of contracts, etc. 

My official connection with county affairs dates from Janu- 
ary 1, 1897, subsequent to the approval of plans and specifica- 
tions by joint action of said Commissioners. 

In March of that year a contract for the erection of the pres- 
ent structure was awarded to Thomas H. Connell, of Lowell, he 
being the lowest bidder. This contract covered everything but 
the furniture and steam heating, the latter being awarded to 
Albert B. Franklin. Work was immediately commenced and 
prosecuted by Mr. Connell, until he was unfortunately forced to 
assign, and the balance of his contract has been completed by the 
Commissioners. Most of the sub-contractors continued under 
the Commissioners at the prices made with Mr. Connell. It 
was found that certain work had never been contracted for by 
Mr. Connell, which omissions we were obliged to supply. 
Owing to the passage of a general law by the Legislature sub- 
sequent to the making of our contract for wooden furniture (see 
Section 10 of Chapter 439, Acts of 1897), we were forced to sub- 
stitute steel in place of wood, at a largely increased cost. In a 
financial way this was unfortunate, but it gives ample protection 
to most important documents. 

In the exercise of excellent judgment, my associates, early 
in the history of this undertaking, selected Olin W. Cutter, of 
Boston, as architect in charge. The work, which has been com- 
pleted under his supervision, you are now surveying, and have 



an undoubted right to criticise from your own standpoint. 
Speaking for your Commissioners, however, it is but fair and 
just to say that he has won the entire confidence of the Board, 
under the most difficult and trying circumstances, by his tact, 
energy, skill, and fidelity. 

In the erection of an important public building beauty, 
grandeur, symmetry, and power should be considered. With a 
due regard for economy in cost and space, these attributes should 
be so harmoniously blended as to produce the highest degree of 
convenience and adaptability. 

From the ruins of the past may be gathered most that is 
valuable in the art of architecture. Their graceful proportions, 
substantia] and symmetrical outlines by skillful manipulation 
and careful treatment are easily adapted in the construction of 
the more serviceable, but less extravagant, demands of the pres- 
ent day. Many noted monuments of antiquity, however, were 
not erected for public purposes, but in self-commemoration, to 
gratify the vanity, caprice, or conceit of powerful and despotic 
rulers. It may not be out of place to consider briefly one of the 
earliest and grandest achievements of the builder's art, a con- 
spicuous example of the products of tyranny and oppression, and 
to criticise its erection and purposes in the light of the liberty 
and civilization of the twentieth century. 

Amid the impenetrable mysteries of those huge piles of 
sandstone and granite, time-worn and silent, which stretch along 
the valley of the Nile, stands the great pyramid of Ghizeh, the 
mightiest evidence of the handiwork of man. In awful grandeur 
it dwarfs the architecture of all the ages, baffles the skill of 
science to comprehend the methods employed in its erection, 
and staggers the intellect with its vast proportions. A monu- 
mental relic of the constructive art of Egypt whereon the tears 
and complaints of a countless multitude were lavished during the 
weary years which preceded its completion. Erected as the 
final resting place of a cruel and heartless tyrant, who forced his 
subjects to labor according to his own relentless will, and even 
forbade them the sweet consolation of any form of religious ex- 
ercises, his memory is universally execrated, and his ashes are 
strewn upon the sands of the desert. The tomb of Cheops has 
commanded the attention of the centuries, but has contributed 
nothing: to the service of mankind. Thanks unto God that the 



spread of the teachings of the blessed Emmanuel have so ele- 
vated the nations that a return to such conditions of tyranny and 
servitude seems impossible! In architecture, the freedom of the 
people has resulted in a demand for the serviceable, rather than 
of the strictly ornamental, which is too liable to prove not only 
extravagant, but practically useless. The inhabitants of Old 
Middlesex inherit from a sturdy ancestry those thrifty qualities 
which stand for utility rather than ostentatious display. In def- 
erence to this sentiment, your architect was instructed to draft 
such a plan for this structure as seemed best adapted to the in- 
terests and desires of the people, and to satisfy all reasonable de- 
mands for symmetry and order. 

He has produced an edifice after the modern type of Italian 
Renaissance, which admits of a freer hand and more liberal 
treatment than the original Greek or Roman orders in the intro- 
duction of those essential requirements in a building of this char- 
acter, convenient clerical apartments, ventilation, and light. 

It has been finished and furnished as required by the dictates 
of law and necessity, and within the appropriations granted by the 
Legislature While it is most sincerely to be regretted that any 
contractor, through errors of judgment, or otherwise, was obliged 
to confront a loss, it must be allowed that our duty to the county 
admitted of no deviation from the express stipulations of the con- 
tract. 

Acting in the interest of all the people, we are met to dedi- 
cate and devote this most excellent building to the purposes for 
which it is intended, in full confidence that its superior in every 
appointment of strength, symmetry, convenience, safety, and 
economy of construction does not exist. 

Hallowed by the traditions of early Cambridge as an out- 
post of Western civilization, and later on as a centre of learning, 
science, and refinement, it is endeared to the lover of our native 
land for the natriotic memories which cluster about it as the bor- 
der line of fighting Middlesex and the headquarters of the Conti- 
nental army in its first campaign under the "Father of his Coun- 
try," who, on an eminence near by, flung to the breeze and 
dedicated to the God of battles and the angel of peace the first 
distinctive American ensign. 

Modern science, struggling to resurrect those mighty prob- 
lems buried in the distant ages of the past, has invaded the 



10 

visionary realms of imagination and pictured the phantom craft 
of the sturdy Viking cleaving the waters of yonder river in 
search of plunder, and finally establishing a settlement upon 
these shores a thousand years ago. In view of all this, may we 
not pause and call to mind the familiar symbol of the burning 
bush, wherein God said, "Draw not nigh hither; put off thy 
shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is 
holy ground." The ground whereon this building stands, mark- 
ing, as it does, the dividing line between British oppression and 
the inception of American independence, and afterwards yield- 
ing to the footprints of the immortal Washington and his little 
band of crude and homespun followers, should be holy and 
sacred to the heart of every lover of liberty. In the depths of 
the night which preceded the dawn of the ever-to-be-remem- 
bered morning of April 19, 1775, approaching with muffled oars, 
a detachment of British hirelings landed near this spot. With 
whispered commands they stealthily formed upon this very 
ground, and passed out into the darkness of midnight as an ad- 
vance guard of despotism, to surprise the people and crush out 
their liberties bv fire and the sword. 

But the "eye that never sleeps" was upon them. The flash of 
the lantern in the belfry of the "Old North," and the wild ride of 
Paul Revere rung out the warning to that Spartan band who 
shed their blood and gave their lives to ciieck them at Lexington, 
while at Concord they were hurled back in disorder and disas- 
trous rout at the hands of those farmers of Old Middlesex who 
"fired the shot heard round the world." 

Since that fateful night no flag of oppression has waved on 
Lechmere Point, but, in place thereof, a' Continental redoubt 
crowned this elevation during the memorable siege of Boston, 
guarding the passage of the Charles, and standing as a sentinel 
to Middlesex beyond, giving way in process of time to yonder 
building surmounted by its golden scales. As beacon lights of 
liberty, consecrated and time-honored, they have glistened and 
danced in the sunlight flash of the early dawn, and kissed the 
rays of departing day. There may they ever remain in equal 
poise, a fitting monument in these historic grounds, and a 
promise of equal rights and of justice impartial to all within the 
borders of ancient Middlesex. 



Remarks of 

Hon. E. R. Champiin. 

May it please the Court: — 

It is eminently appropriate that the municipality within the 
limits of which this beautiful structure is located should be offi- 
cially represented upon this occasion, not alone because this edi- 
fice is here erected, but emphatically for the reason that Cam- 
bridge, with the exception of a brief period, has been a place 
where judicial sessions of the Court have been held since the Gen- 
eral Court abandoned its prerogative of determining questions in- 
volved in litigation, and delegated its powers by an enactment, 
March 3, 1636, and provided that four courts shall be kept every 
quarter, one at Ipswich, one at Salem, one at Newe Towne, and 
one at Boston. And Cambridge continued to be the place of the 
sessions of the court for the County of Middlesex when the 
colony was divided into counties May 10, 1H43. Neither the his- 
tory of the county nor the records of the city disclose the precise 
location of the first court house, nor when it was constructed. 
But it must have been burned prior to 1671, for it appears from 
the files of the court that, in that year, provisions were made for 
rewriting whatever could be found from the records after the fire. 
But about 1708 a court house was erected in Harvard square, 
which served the purposes of the court for substantially half a 
century. A committee was appointed by the proprietors of Cam- 
bridge to secure land for the purpose. 

Gathered as we are to-dav in this beautiful and commodious 
edifice by way of contrast it is interesting to notice the report of 
the committee of the proprietors, wherein they give an account of 
their stewardship in securing- the land and building for the first 
court house. A portion of their report is as follows: — 

"Pursuant to the aforesaid appointment, we . . . have 
agreed with and granted liberty unto the said John Bunker and 
Andrew Bordman to make a lower room under the said house 
(which we apprehend will be about thirty feet in length and 
twenty-four feet in width), the said lower room to be about seven 



12 

or eight feet stud, betwixt joints, with a cellar under the whole of 
the said house ; the aforesaid lower room and cellar to be for the 
use of the said Tohn Bunker and Andrew Bordman, their heirs 
and assigns forever, excepting an entry through the middle of the 
said lower room, of about six feet wide, and a stairway for passage 
into the said court house, or chamber, as the committee for build- 
ing the same shall see meet ; the remainder of the said lower room 
and the whole of the said cellar to be for the use and benefit of the 
said John Bunker and Andrew Bordman, their heirs and assigns, 
forever, as aforesaid." 

It thus appears that the upper floor of a building thirty by 
twenty-four feet was expected to be sufficient to accommodate the 
court in the transaction of its business, the lower room and cellar 
to be occupied by others. Toward the expense of this structure 
the county contributed the sum of thirty pounds. 

Somewhere about the beginning of 1758 a new court house 
was erected in Harvard square, which was used for court pur- 
poses until the present location at East Cambridge was selected ; 
but during this time residents in the various portions of the city, 
anxious to secure the supposed benefit to neighboring real estate 
expected to accrue from the nearness of public buildings, made 
strenuous efforts to secure locations for the court house in their 
particular sections ; but Andrew Craigie, with his customary en- 
terprise and his usual ability to distance his competitors, suc- 
ceeded in securing: the location for the new court house near the 
present site. In order to accomplish his purpose, he and his as- 
sociates made a present of extensive grounds, with the court 
house and jail thereon, which cost about twenty-four thousand 
dollars. And thus it appears that it was not the convenience of 
the court and those having- business therein, but a real estate 
boom which was responsible for the original selection of this lo- 
cation. 

We are glad to have this beautiful building added to the 
group of county structures in our midst. It is not only architec- 
turally beautiful, but emphatically utilitarian. Its spacious and 
attractive rooms furnish a delightful place for work for those who 
are more or less accustomed to frequent the courts, and I am glad 
officially, and personally, as well, to express the gratification oc- 
casioned by this attractive structure. 



Remarks of 

Hon. Selwyn Z. Bowman 

Your Honors: — 

It is fitting that we should turn aside from our business 
cares for a time and jubilate a little, as citizens of old Middlesex 
County, on the completion of this magnificent building, which is 
an honor to the county and to all those concerned in its erec- 
tion. It is a striking illustration of the growth and prosperity of 
our county, and shows that old Middlesex is still young Middle- 
sex ; that it has the growth, and vigor, and energy, and activity 
of youth ; and that, while it has a pride in its glorious history of 
the past, it is fully alive to the activities and demands of the 
present and the future. 

We are proud of its records of patriotic and historic deeds, 
and of the great and good men who, on the bench and at the 
bar, in business and educational pursuits, and in the various 
walks of life, have adorned its annals ; but the men of Middlesex 
do not live in the past, however glorious, but are fully alive to 
the needs of the present and the demands of the future. 

We have reached no period of decadence, but from census 
to census we find that our county is increasing both in popula- 
tion and in prosperity — and these two are by no means always 
synonymous — and that it still continues, and will long continue, 
in a healthy and vigorous growth. 

Villages take in their outlying cow pastures and cover them 
with streets and houses, and grow into each other and become 
thickly-settled towns, and these rapidly expand into cities, 
which speedily become experts in the manufacture of politics 
and other municipal products. As modest but truthful men, 
we are compelled to admit that Middlesex may be considered as 
the leading county in the State, and we are not obliged to rely 
upon Suffolk or any other county to relieve us in the adminis- 
tration of the affairs of any part of it. 

This magnificent building proves that we are able to erect a 
structure which is the finest in the State for the purposes for 
which it is designed. It may be of use also as a heavy anchor 



14 

thrown out to windward, to prevent any portion of this end of 
the county drifting towards Suffolk. 

Of course we are obliged to acknowledge that in regard to 
the vulgar and sordid considerations of wealth, and commerce, 
and trade we must yield precedence to Suffolk County, but 
every truthful and patriotic citizen of Middlesex will admit that 
in all other respects we are far ahead of it. We say this in no 
boastful spirit, but simply because on such occasions the truth 
should be spoken, and the dignity of our county asserted. I 
regret to be obliged to mar the harmony of this occasion, and as 
a patriotic citizen of this county to call attention to the lack of 
etiquette which the previous speakers have shown, and to their 
defiance of an old and established custom. On all occasions of 
public interest in this county strict etiquette requires that 
the speakers should refer to the battles of Concord, and Lexing- 
ton, and Bunker Hill. I should deem myself derelict in my 
duty if I did not supply this omission by myself referring to 
these historical events. I presume the most of you have heard 
of them, but it will do no harm to refresh your recollection in 
regard thereto. In any event, the proprieties of the occasion 
should be observed in this respect. 

Our county is rich in historical associations, but it prides 
itself on its battlefields ; in fact, revolutionary battlefields are its 
specialty, and it has a monopoly of them in the State. We have 
a corner on battlefields. Suffolk County has a few historical 
relics, and of these it inordinately boasts, such as Faneuil Hall, 
the Old State House, the Old South Church, and two or three 
graveyards ; but Boston, with all its wealth, and power, and 
magnificence, its ancient houses, and more ancient graveyards, 
never had a revolutionary battlefield. When the battles were 
on, they were in another county, and the inhabitants of Boston 
could safely view the top of the smoke of some of the battles 
from the roofs of their houses or their church steeples. They 
even, in time of need, could hang out a lantern from a church 
tower as an indication that in their opinion it was about time 
for the Middlesex men to go to fighting. 

The heroism of the hanging of the lantern on the Old North 
Church has been the theme of poet and historian, but history 
does not record that the Suffolk County men rushed frantically 



15 

to their boats and sculled across the river and plunged madly 
into the Middlesex frays. Not even a Myopia Club man of 
those days, who might be deemed specially fitted for such ser- 
vice, took on his blooded steed the midnight gallop at the wild 
and headlong speed, according to Longfellow, of about five 
miles an hour, from Charlestown to Concord, but it was left for 
a Middlesex artisan, probably mounted on an old team horse, to 
accomplish that memorable ride. 

On his route there was the old Munroe tavern in Lexing- 
ton, and the old stage taverns in Arlington and Medford, and 
probably other hostelries which offered suitable entertainment 
for wavfarers, and it is possible that these may have been the 
cause of his not exceeding that headlong speed of five miles an 
hour. Although the hero of that ride did business in Boston, 
yet it is quite evident from those qualities of mind and courage 
which he displayed, and from the numerous relics which he left 
in Charlestown, and which still exist, that he was at heart a 
Middlesex man and a lover of the city in which the great battle 
took place. And so, Suffolk County had not a revolutionary 
battlefield. It sorely missed that article from its collection of 
historical bric-a-brac. 

It was very galling to its pride to be obliged to lead dis- 
tinguished strangers, as, for example, the Prince of Wales and 
the Queen of the Sandwich Islands, to the point on State street 
where a street fight occurred, and proudly point to it as the 
Suffolk County battlefield, and then sadly to take them to look 
at a couple of graveyards. So much pride, however, did they 
take in this street skirmish that they erected a costly monument 
to commemorate the great event. 

But, after all, they sadty realized that it was not a genuine 
and historic battlefield. Accordingly, it determined to have a 
battlefield of its own, and so it grabbed one out of Middlesex 
County. It is not generally understood, except by you who are 
students of history, that this was the true reason of the annexa- 
tion of Charlestown. But Bunker Hill still remains a Middlesex 
battleground, and Suffolk County can only boast of it and weep 
over it, as the purchaser of the old ancestral estate in England, 
including the tombs and bones of the ancestors there interred, 
wept over them, which he said he had the best right to do, 



16 

because he had bought them and they were his bones and tombs 
of ancestors. This statement, on this public occasion, is in- 
tended as a caveat, to warn Suffolk County that it cannot gain 
any title by prescription to any of our historical associations, 
and that they remain exclusively the property of Middlesex, and 
that there must be no more trespassing on our territory and 
history. The actual land of Bunker Hill belongs to Suffolk, but 
the easement therein of the honor and associations connected 
therewith is retained by Middlesex. 

We congratulate the Court upon this magnificent structure 
and the spacious and elegant apartments therein, in which their 
duties will be hereafter performed. We have always been proud 
of our Probate Court. Its judges have always been men of 
ability, integrity, and of the highest rank in their profession ; 
they have always been regarded as leaders in the Probate Judi- 
ciary of the State. My memory goes back to a little cramped 
court room in the old building opposite to this, in which Judge 
Richardson used to hold court for many years after I came to 
the Bar, and before he left the bench to, as Secretary of the 
Treasury, enter upon a wider field of usefulness, and afterwards 
to acquire a national reputation, during his many years of ser- 
vice on the bench of the Court of Claims, as one of the ablesl 
judges, the clearest thinkers, and the most scholarly, men, of the 
many strong men, who have presided over that tribunal. 

While on this bench he was regarded as the best authority 
on Probate law in the State. Careful, patient, courteous, acute, 
approachable, conscientious, he was an ideal judge of this court 
of the people ; this court, with which the people of all classes 
come into the closest contact. He was the brother of our loved 
and respected brother lawyer, and leader, and Nestor of the 
Middlesex Bar, Hon. George F. Richardson. I do not know 
that he likes to be called a Nestor ; some people are sensitive 
about that subject. There is a time when we do not like to be 
called Nestors, and to have young men, and even young ladies, 
offer us their seats in the street cars. But there comes a time, 
at which Brother Richardson and I have about arrived, when 
we are proud of being called Nestors. There are only two sure 
roads to fame that I know of, and to having your picture go 
down in the newspapers to posterity ; one is to be a Nestor, and 



17 

the other is to take patent medicines ; either mode is fatal, but I 
think that, of the two, I prefer the former. 

And then our minds go back to the successor of Judge 
Richardson on the bench, the dear, and delightful, and genial, 
and lovable Judge Brooks. Who of us, who ever practiced 
under him, can forget his pleasant smile, his genial manners, his 
unvarying courtesy, his unwearying patience ; that patience with 
which he would listen to the disconnected tale of perhaps some 
ignorant old woman, too poor to employ a lawyer, and would 
give to her advice and, what was better, sympathy in her 
troubles ; his industry, that desire to do everything which he 
thought was required, and that constant attendance to business, 
which undoubtedly cut short his days. He grew, not only into 
the respect, but the hearts of all those who knew him ; and if ever 
it could be said of any man, it could be said of him, that "the 
memory of the just is blessed." 

I never heard of but one blot upon his character, and 
perhaps, on such an occasion as this, I should not refer to this 
frailty ; that blot was that he went to Congress, where, it is true, 
he performed his duties with honor to himself and to the benefit 
of the country ; but he soon reformed from political life, and 
atoned for his brief lapse into the same by being for the rest of 
his life an honored and respected member of the Judiciary of the 
State. 

And, Your Honors, we are proud to know that you are the 
worthy successors of the good and able men to whom I have re- 
ferred, and of the other good and able men who have graced the 
bench of the Probate Court of Middlesex County. The old 
traditions of this bench, the courtesy, the patience, the ability, 
the care, the learning which have distinguished it have been 
maintained, and will be maintained by you, and, under your ad- 
ministration, the honor and esteem in which this court has al- 
ways been held by the people will continue. 

As has been said, your court is the court of the people. All 
classes come into intimate connection with it. Through it flows 
in every generation nearly all the property in the county. All 
men come into it sooner or later by their agents, at least, if, in- 
deed, any man can be said to have a post-mortem agent or at- 
torney ; but, alas, there is one class debarred from the privileges 



of this court, and they cannot appear here after death, and that 
is the class of us lawyers, whom you so courteously and pa- 
tiently serve during life, but whom you cannot serve after our 
death, because we never have anything to leave. The defunct 
lawyer has no need of a post-mortem attorney to represent him 
here. The only case which is furnished him is a non-paying 
case, such as the undertaker referred to in the couplet, only the 
last line of which remains in my mind. The undertaker, ad- 
dressing the lawyer in the case in which he had placed him, says, 
"Now lie still and try my case." 

But almost every one else comes by his representatives into 
your court. Into all other courts men go by their own volition, 
except unfortunate defendants who are summoned in by others ; 
but all go in by the action of individuals. But you need no 
summonses, or subpoenas, or writs. Death is the officer in con- 
sequence of whose summons all persons appear here. The high 
and low, the rich and poor, the cultured and the ignorant, the 
powerful and the weak, the rulers and the ruled, all have to lay 
aside their business and their pleasure when the dread summons 
comes, and immediately obey the awful mandate. 

We can all, as Middlesex men, be proud and gratified at the 
erection of this noble building, which can but impress all with 
respect for the importance of the law. When our clients come 
here and gaze upon the noble facade of this structure, the great 
pillars which enclose its ample portico, these spacious and orna- 
mented court rooms, these commodious halls of records and of 
the clerks, this beautiful and imposing rotunda, they cannot but 
be so impressed by the dignity and importance of the law as to 
enable us to add at least fifty per cent, to our charges for Pro- 
bate business. I should not dare to suggest it to the judges, but 
I have no doubt that they will be so impressed by the added dig- 
nity and beauty of these surroundings, and the necessity of all 
things, even charges, being in harmony therewith, that they will 
hereafter refuse to approve our executor's, administrator's, and 
trustee's accounts, unless we shall have added a hundred per 
cent, to the charges heretofore prescribed. 

And now, Your Honors, we congratulate you upon the 
completion of this beautiful building, and hope that, with its 
abundance of light and air, its spacious halls, its many conven- 



19 

iences, it will be a comfort and an assistance to you in the dis- 
charge of your arduous duties. 

The relations of the Bench and the Bar in this court have 
always been of the most pleasant and cordial character, and we 
know that they will always so continue. You will always have 
the best wishes of the Bar, and their earnest co-operation in all 
matters tending to the improvement of the law and of the ad- 
ministration of justice and of the public welfare. 



Remarks of Hon. Thco. C. Hurd, 
Clerk of Courts 

I had no reason to anticipate being called on for any re- 
marks this morning, and I am still in doubt why I should speak. 

The only excuse I can give is, perchance, that I am fast 
taking my place among the Seniors of the Bar. 

The other members present who can have knowledge of old 
days in the Probate Court are the Registrar, Mr. Folsom, Mr. 
Richardson, of Lowell, and John S. Keyes, of Concord, who has 
just entered this room with a step as elastic as when, a half a 
century ago, he adorned the office of Sheriff of Middlesex. 

I accept, then, the privilege of age to be reminiscent, and 
ask you, for a moment, to forget this scene, which is so signifi- 
cant of the great increase of our county and the business of its 
courts and registry, and come back with me to the days when 
Samuel Phillips Prescott Fay was Judge and Isaac Fiske was 
Register of Probate. Their office and court room would be lost 
in some of the ante-rooms of this building. They made the cir- 
cuit in a chaise, and brought the court to the very homes of 
widows and orphans by holding sessions of court in all the prin- 
cipal towns. 

For more than a third of a century they administered the 
Probate Laws, and their venerable forms seemed fitting repre- 
sentatives of a court whose functions were as distinctly paternal. 

Judge Fay was succeeded in 1856 by Judge William A. 
Richardson. Pie was amply qualified by temperament and edu- 
cation for the duties of his office. He was learned in the law, 
resolute in its enforcement, quick of perception, and fertile in 
suggestion to the suitors in his court, and to his endeavors are 
largely due the legislation which enlarged the court's jurisdic- 
tion and procured a uniformity of practice throughout the Com- 
monwealth. When he resigned to assume high official duties 
in national affairs, he was succeeded by George Merrick Brooks, 
of Concord, whose name and memory can hardly yet be men- 
tioned without emotion by those of us who knew the sweet- 
souled, pure-minded, kindly-hearted man. 



The pattern gentleman of Old Middlesex was the pattern 
Judge. His administration of the office was so modest and 
quiet that we were led to forget its strength and vigor. 

A fitting ornament for this building in our day and genera- 
tion should be some memorial of him in the adjoining rotunda. 

Any reference to the present Court would be outside the 
bounds of propriety. The largely-increased duties which recent 
legislation has imposed, both in law and equity, and the marvel- 
ous increase of business, which keeps step with the increase of 
our imperial county, demands much at your hands. 

This building is a fitting illustration of the magnitude of 
the task. 

I can only say that the Bar expects, with confidence, a con- 
tinuation of the high reputation of our court which has been es- 
tablished by the Judges of the century which this year goes into 
history. 



Remarks of Hon. Geo. F. Lawton, 
Judge of Probate 

Gentlemen of the Bar: — 

This is an occasion when the County of Middlesex seems 
more to be emphasized than any larger unit of our people. 

The County Commissioners are here in their official ca- 
pacity to dedicate — to give this building to the use for which it 
was intended. The gentlemen of the Bar of Middlesex are in- 
vited here to participate. The president of the only organized 
association of lawyers for the entire county is here to initiate 
and direct the exercises which have been deemed fitting and ap- 
propriate. 

When you dedicate this building, or any public building, 
for any public use, you think of the people who make it and who 
use it. The people of Middlesex are just like the people of the 
rest of Massachusetts. There are no boundary lines of charac- 
ter between Middlesex. Suffolk, and Essex, Norfolk, Bristol, 
Barnstable, Worcester, and Berkshire. How good, not how 
melodious, the harsh old names sound to the Massachusetts ear! 
Their sibilants and gutturals hiss, and growl, and roar like the 
northeast wind that lashes Massachusetts Bay and storms along 
our shore. 

It is usual to observe the passion Middlesex men, the men 
of Massachusetts, New England men, have for schools and edu- 
cation. It is not so usual to observe the passion they have for 
courts and the law. It was just so a hundred years ago. 
George the Third and his Ministers and the Parliament did not 
observe it when Massachusetts was in rebellion against the laws 
of England. Even George Washington did not observe it when 
he took command here in Cambridge of his army of rebels. 
Their early lack of discipline seemed to him like an absence of 
reverence for authority. He did not understand the Puritan 
spirit. He said the Massachusetts men would make very good 
soldiers if they only had "gentlemen" for officers to command 
them. His biographer tried to explain that all Wash- 
ington meant was that they ought to have officers competent by 



23 

reason of education and training to control them. The Father 
of his Country meant nothing of the kind. He came to Cam- 
bridge from Virginia. He had in mind a system of classes com- 
bining the gentry and the common people. There were "cava- 
liers" in Virginia. If there were any in Massachusetts, they 
were Tories, and for the King. The men Washington found in 
Massachusetts were somewhat like those Puritans in England 
who made a court to try a king a hundred years before. With- 
out doubt, descendants of the regicides of the High Court of 
Justice were in that same army at Cambridge. King Charles 
did not recognize any regard for law in those men. He did not 
understand such men any better than Washington did. 

Macaulay says of him: "He for a time expected a death like 
that of his unhappy predecessors, Edward the Second and 
Richard the Second. But he was in no danger of such treason. 
Those who had him in their grip were not midnight stabbers. 
What they did they did that it might be a spectacle to heaven and 
earth, and that it might be held in everlasting remembrance/' 

" He died not, sirs, as hated kings have died, 
In darkness and in shade. No eye to trace 
The one step from their prison to their pall. 
He died i' the eyes of Europe ;»in the face 
Of the broad heaven; amidst the sons of England 
Whom he had outraged ; by a solemn sentence 
Passed by a solemn court." 

Puritan law was. and is, no Court of Star Chamber Law. It 
is no mob law. It is no king's law. It is the people's law. 
They tried the "Man Charles" because he had violated the laws 
of the people of England. It was true, he was the King, and 
that aggravated his crime, but did not exempt him from the 
punishment of law. There never was a devotee of the "divine 
right" of kings who so reverenced law as did the men 
of Massachusetts who rebelled against the laws they were not 
permitted to make. If Massachusetts had the most rebels of all 
the thirteen colonies, there was not one of those colonies in 
which there was more law and less disorder and violence. 

As were the fathers, so are the sons. And to-day you can 
hardly find in the world anywhere people who so respect the law, 
and so little need, or so seldom incur, the punishments of the 



24 

law as the lineal descendants of those same Massachusetts 
rebels. Wherever their influence is felt, wherever they can 
leaven the lump of the body politic, you will find no lynching 
there. No bloody family and tribal feuds are found there ; there 
is no lawlessness there. 

In some mining camp distant from Puritan New England 
you may find them on some "vigilance committee," doing just 
as they did in the days of Charles Stuart. You will find them 
making law and putting an end to violence, robbery, murder, 
and anarchy. Some people are afraid that anarchy will come 
upon the American Republic. Doubtless there is great peril, 
but it is a peril which the ever-spreading spirit cf New England- 
ism will meet, and overcome, and destroy. The New England 
faculty for government by the people, the New England pas- 
sion for law will sometime fill this country, and finally fill the 
world. 

A stranger to -Middlesex County would look at this massive 
structure with surprise that it all should be devoted to the Courts 
of Probate and Insolvency and to the Registry of Deeds for a 
single county. There is no parallel to it in all New England. 
Much of the work to be done in it relates to the busy transfer of 
property and of lands. Much of it relates to the peaceful and 
lawful disposition and settlement of property and estates. 
Much of it relates to conflicts within families and between kin- 
dred. Much of it involves contests between strangers in blood. 
All of this business, to be lawfully disposed of by the Probate 
Court and the Registry of Deeds, has increased with the mighty 
expansion of Middlesex in people and in wealth. 

No other county in all New England, except Suffolk, can 
be compared with it in population. Boston, the great me- 
tropolis of New England, is thronged with the people of Middle- 
sex, who keep its shops and do its business. No inconsiderable 
fraction of the values assessed in Suffolk are owned by those 
who live and die in Middlesex. A very large part of the prop- 
erty of the people once every generation passes through the 
Probate Courts for consideration and treatment. It is the com- 
bination of population and of property in the County of Middle- 
sex which demands this great edifice and accounts for its con- 
struction. 



25 

This is a time when the older members of the Bar will recall 
the instruments of the people who have officiated in this court 
in the days that have gone. The roll of those upright Judges 
need not be called. Their names are cherished in the hearts 
and homes of Middlesex, if they are written in no other "Hall 
of Fame." The records of their courts are without spot. The 
personal fame of each of them is without blemish or stain. We 
can imagine them here to-day — Fay, and Richardson, and 
Brooks — silent and invisible spectators, the "spirits of just men 
made perfect." While those who have succeeded them may not 
attain to the perfect equipment of some of them, we may well 
emulate the fidelitv and devotion of most of them. 

With the growth of the court and its jurisdiction and the 
growth of legislation concerning estates has come the necessity 
for the intervention of counsel of the most thorough training in 
the intricate work of conjoined equity and law. The gentlemen 
who most appear at the bar of this court constitute a body of 
lawyers of special and efficient learning, of which we are properly 
proud. Upon them, as much as upon the Judges, depends the 
just disposition of all the business of the court. On them we 
reiy, and upon them the people of Middlesex may with con- 
fidence rely, that the old standards and traditions will in this new 
building be maintained, and justice be dispensed within its walls. 



Remarks of Hon. Chas. j. Mclntire 
First Judge of Probate 

Gentlemen of the Ear, the Board of County Commissioners, and 
Citizens of Middlesex: — 

As citizens we are moved with pride for our county, and as 
lawyers we are inspired with a new love and devotion to our pro- 
fession, while gathered to-dav in this noble and impressive struc- 
ture, taking part in the exercises which dedicate it as a temple of 
justice and depository of public records. But in order to more 
fully appreciate the conveniences which it offers, and to stimulate 
us further toward our ideals, let us turn for a moment to consider 
the various places in this city wherein the courts have heretofore 
been held ; their capacity and conveniences. 

Cambridge has been a place of judicial abode from almost 
the beginning of our history. Fixed upon in 1630 to be the 
future colonial seat of government, in 1634 the annual elections 
of governor and magistrates began to be held upon the open 
common, and the sessions of the General Court were transferred 
ftom Boston. The General Court being then the judicial 
tribunal, as well as the legislative body, trials of all causes of im- 
portance were heard by it from its organization until 1635, when 
four separate courts were ordered to be held every quarter at 
Ipswich, Salem, Cambridge (then "Newe Towne"), and Boston; 
and these courts were to be presided over by the magistrates who 
dwelt in or near those towns, and by such other persons of worth 
as from time to time should be appointed. In 1639 several new 
courts were created, and there was a new organization of judi- 
cial powers ; and when the colony was divided into counties in 
1643, the courts and records were retained at Cambridge, which 
was then constituted the shire town of Middlesex. Later, in 
1652, certain sessions were ordered at Charlestown, and subse- 
quently at Concord and Lowell. 

The records of trials and of wills, administrations, and 
deeds have been continually kept here, except during one short, 
but memorable, period, when the register appointed by Andros 



27 

removed them to Charlestown, where he and his successor un- 
lawfully, but persistently, held them until finally forced by the 
General Court to bring: them back to the shire town of the 
county. It was Andros' registers, you will remember, who were 
publicly accused of "extorting what they please to demand, con- 
trary to all reason and justice," and of charging- unconscionable 
fees to the "poor widows and fatherless." 

Previous to the occupation of the court house standing upon 
the square opposite, there had been as many as four buildings in 
Cambridge used for the courts during different periods. All of 
these were located in or near what is now Harvard square, and 
were occupied jointly by the county and the town. One was 
destroyed by fire in 1671, mention of which will be found in the 
docket of the countv court held on "the fourth day of the eighth 
month" of that year, and of the consequent loss of a portion of 
the records and papers. The structure which took the place of 
the one so burned was occupied until 1708, but neither history 
nor tradition gives to us a description of either of those earlier 
buildings, nor of their exact locations. The third court house 
of which we have any information was erected in 1707, upon a 
spot nearly in the middle of Harvard square, and it was used for 
about fifty years. The fourth was where the Lyceum building 
now stands, on the westerly side of the square, and it was in use 
from 1757 to 1816, when the county parted company with the 
town and removed to East Cambridge, then known as "Lech- 
mere Point." 

All of these early structures were of wood, and the records 
of the Court of General Sessions of April 23, 1707, give this de- 
scription of one of them, and its cost to the county: "Agreed by 
the justices, etc., * * * that there be allowed out of the county 
treasury, towards ye erecting a suitable court house for ye use 
of ye county, with ye town of Cambridge, thirty pounds, the one- 
halfe to be paid at ye raising and covering, and the other halfe 
at ye finishing of ye same, the said house not to be less than four 
and twenty foot wide, and eight and twenty foot long, and height 
proportionable." The records of the proprietors of the com- 
mon lands of Cambridge show that they donated the land for 
this building, and also that, in consideration of £20, paid by two 
citizens of the town, they were given permission to build at their 



28 

own expense a lower story for their private use while the build- 
ing stood, provided that they constructed an entry and stairway 
six feet wide leading up to the court room above. The immedi- 
ate predecessor of the court house at East Cambridge was about 
thirty feet wide by forty long, and two stories in height, with a 
cupola surmounted by a gilded ball. It was built, as I have 
stated, in 1757, and now, after nearly one hundred and fifty years, 
this structure is yet in existence, forming the humble rear addi- 
tion, on Palmer street, of the building standing upon the north- 
westerly corner of Brattle and Palmer streets, where the curious 
may still easily mark its original outlines and height. 

It will be remembered that, as late as 1799, the five judges 
of the Superior Court of judicature were expected to preside in 
each county for the trial of all causes, and that not less than three 
judges constituted a quorum; and it is matter for reflection that, 
until the occupation of the court house opposite, in 1816, jury 
trials and sittings of the full bench of the Supreme Judicial Court 
were necessarily held in modest and contracted quarters like 
those I have named. Possibly limited conveniences may have 
had something to do with causing the several offices of town 
clerk, town treasurer, register of probate and deeds, and judge 
of the court of common pleas to be bestowed upon but a single 
one of the distinguished citizens of Cambridge, Andrew Board- 
man. In the year 1752 Governor Phips might have invited to 
his table the judge of probate, the register of probate and deeds 
for Middlesex, two judges of the court of common pleas, a mem- 
ber of his council, two justices of the peace and one of the 
quorum, the town clerk and the town treasurer of Cambridge, 
and yet have been obliged to set only two extra plates for his 
good friends, Samuel Danforth and Andrew Boardman. 

In structures like those described, celebrated trials were 
had in the early days, and in them men like Christopher Gore, 
Edmund Trowbridge, Samuel Dexter, John Read, Richard and 
Francis Dana, and Jonathan Sewall made their reputations as 
lawyers. That little building, now on Palmer street, became 
noted from the fact that the same Samuel Danforth, then seventy- 
eight years of age, and who, during more than forty years, had 
been chosen by the people to many important offices, including 
that of councillor, having yielded to temptation and accepted 



29 

from the King a place upon the "mandamus" board, on Septem- 
ber 2, 1774, in the presence of several thousand exasperated peo- 
ple, publicly announced from the steps of the court house, that 
he resigned the position and regretted that he had ever accepted 
it. By his side stood his fellow-councillor, Judge Lee, and he 
made similar announcement ; likewise standing there was David 
Phipps, the fugacious high sheriff, who had recently delivered up 
to the British soldiers the powder stored at Charlestown, and 
who, in his fear, now promised to execute no precept under the 
recent acts of Parliament. But he soon hastened to England, 
never to return. 

The year 1813 marks a fortunate era in our county history, 
for it was then that the owners of Lechmere Point, having com- 
pleted the bridge to Boston, and being desirous of attracting set- 
tlers to this part of the town, made the generous offer that if the 
county would remove, they would present to it one entire square 
of land and the westerlv half of another, and would expend the 
sum of $24,000 upon it, toward the erection of a handsome court 
house and a jail. It is not remarkable that the townspeople, 
most of whom then resided near Harvard square, were greatly 
opposed to the scheme; but so munificent a proposal could 
hardly have been expected to be refused, and in December of 
that year the Court of Sessions formally accepted it. At the 
March term of 1816 a committee reported to the court that the 
buildings were satisfactorily completed, a removal was ordered, 
and likewise the payment from the county treasury of the sum 
of $4,190.78, which had been expended in excess of the money 
given. This was the beginning of the courts at East Cam- 
bridge. From this period the population increased rapidly, so 
that, in 1848, the business of the county demanded the construc- 
tion of the wings to the new court building. 

In 1877, the work of the courts requiring the whole of the 
building, a new structure for the Registry of Deeds was erected 
within the enclosure, which, twelve years later, was moved back, 
and an extensive front added for the accommodation of the Pro- 
bate and the Insolvent Courts. And in 1896 the Legislature 
ordered the construction of the building in which we are assem- 
bled, henceforward to be the home of the Courts of Probate and 
Insolvency, the Registry of Probate, Insolvency, and of Deeds. 



30 

This commodious and imposing edifice, now completed, oc- 
cupying- an entire square with its ample proportions, well illus- 
trates the growth and importance of our County of Middlesex. 
Since Cambridge was selected by the fathers to be the "Newe 
Towne/' — since the little wooden court house of 24x28 feet was 
deemed sufficient for the courts and for the business of both the 
county and the municipality, — we have become a shire of eleven 
cities and forty-three towns, with a population of about 600,000. 
Nor should we ever forget that this group of buildings stands 
upon historic ground. It is here that the British force made 
landing from Boston on the night preceding their disaster at 
Concord and Lexington ; and just beyond, at the summit of the 
hill, was Fort Putnam, whose ramparts were thrown up by Gen- 
erals Heath and Putnam, under the immediate supervision and 
command of Washington, and whose guns played no unimpor- 
tant part in driving General Howe from Boston. 

In the court rooms of the building opposite there have pre- 
sided eight of the eminent men who have been chief justices of 
our Supreme Court, including Parker, whose wisdom and inge- 
nuity could always find principles of equity in the common law 
wherewith to release justice when entangled in a net of forms. 
And Shaw, that embodied spirit of the common law, who, as a 
constitutional lawyer likewise, was excelled by none but 
Marshall. The voices of William Prescott and Daniel Webster, 
Jeremiah Mason and Rufus Choate, the elder Hoar, and the 
learned judge, his son, have echoed within those walls ; and 
memories of the struggles of Buttrick and W'entworth, Sweetser 
and Abbott, Butler and Train, and those many other leaders of 
the Bar whose names and fame are familiar to us all, will linger 
about them so long as they will stand! There, too, is the scene 
of the careful and diligent labors of the successive Judges of Pro- 
bate, James Prescott, Samuel P. P. Fay, William A. Richardson, 
and George M. Brooks, all distinguished lawyers and eminent 
citizens, who, as well as their honored predecessors, brought 
credit to our county and added to the fair fame of our Common- 
wealth. 

All of these have departed — many of them long since — but 
their virtues and actions remain as a worthy example for us to 
follow. In the words of one: "The character and virtues, the 



31 



just sentiments and useful actions of distinguished men, pre- 
served in the annals and cherished in the recollections of a grate- 
ful people, constitute their richest treasures. They speak to 
their successors in the language of encouragement, of hope, of 
confidence. They excite the ardent aspirations of the young, 
whilst they sustain and invigorate the efforts of those who are 
devoting the full strength of their mature years to the service of 
their country." 

May our lives and our sentiments, then, be so directed as to 
excite similar feelings of pride and encouragement, so that when 
our service is ended, our successors may be able to say that their 
efforts were sustained, their aspirations excited, their duties 
lightened by a contemplation of our characters, our virtues, and 
our useful actions. 



j<j>\ a.o i^U/ 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




LIBRARY OF COI 



014 065 4 



